A look at some of the most practical applications of the diminished scale in guitar playing and improvisation.

Let's continue with the next letter of the CAGED system, A. An open A major chord is commonly found in the first position on the fingerboard and can be seen as a shape that lines up the fretted notes E, A and C# as a barre on the fourth, third and second strings.

Let's plunge right in with the next letter of the CAGED system: G. An open G major chord is commonly found in the first position on the fingerboard as a form that contains all six strings.

The next letter of the CAGED system is E. Like the G chord, an open E major chord is commonly found in the first position as a form that contains all six strings. This fingering form yields a very useable shape that is the basis for the most common barre chord, as well as the infamous "blues box" of guitar lore.

The final letter of the CAGED system is D. An open D major chord is commonly found in the first position on the fingerboard as a four–note form built from the fourth string root. By re–fingering the chord with all four fingers and moving it to the seventh position the D shape now becomes an A chord.

Introduction to the Whole Tone Scale

Some of the most creative rules-breaking, when it comes to scales and Tri-Chord fingerings, has been committed by players like Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and George Lynch in the guitar-intensive music of the eighties.

Making imitated licks into useable new material for future “on the fly” improvisation.

In any good conversation it’s nice to have a point. Musically, this is where you pull out your assimilated and repurposed melodies and give your listeners a re-interpretation. But how do we get there from here?

Steps to Guitar Mastery via “West Coast Blues”